


A Bit of a Predicament

by Nellie2018



Category: Supernatural
Genre: Gen, Hurt Sam
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-04-20
Updated: 2020-04-20
Packaged: 2021-03-01 21:00:45
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,272
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/23753494
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Nellie2018/pseuds/Nellie2018
Summary: The Winchester brothers encounter a strange reaction when killing a witch and end up trapped in a rapidly flooding cellar but are reassured that Cas and Jack are on their way to get them out.
Kudos: 9





	A Bit of a Predicament

The Winchester brothers looked at each other in puzzlement as the witch began to spin and expand.  
“What’s happening?” asked Sam nervously, shaking his dark hair.  
His brother Dean shook his head, lowering the gun. He had just shot the witch expecting her to fall down dead at his feet.  
“I’ve got a bad feeling about this.” he murmured, watching as the witch began to whirl so quickly she blurred, ever expanding. Both brothers felt the rise in air pressure.  
“Come on Sam - she’s going to blow.” he yelled and turned to look for an escape route. They were trapped in the kitchen, the maelstrom blocking their exit from the door. Spotting the open entrance to the basement he tugged the younger hunter and made for the door. The noise was deafening and both brothers ran to the door, closing it firmly behind them to protect themselves from the inevitable explosion.  
“Down here Sam, under the stairs. It should give us some protection.” yelled Dean and both brothers tucked themselves under the stairs, as close to the wall as possible. With a loud bang, the witch exploded, bringing the walls of the house down, the roof falling in as the support failed. Sam and Dean crouched down, arms protecting their heads as debris fell and they were deafened by the crash of falling masonry and timber. Eventually, everything quieted to a soft thump of settling debris and both brothers untucked themselves warily.  
“What kind of bullets did you have in that gun?” asked Sam, dusting himself off.  
His brother shrugged. “Just the normal type - witch killing bullets. They’ve never had that reaction before. You ok?”  
After a quick self assessment Sam nodded.  
“Yeah, you?”  
Dean nodded. Both brothers appeared uninjured and patted each other's arm, glad that they had survived in one piece.   
“Thanks to the basement. God knows what would have happened if we hadn’t tucked ourselves under here.”  
“Splattered like the witch and flattened like a pancake.” summed up Sam. He lifted a piece of fallen shelving away to clear an exit and stood up to examine the room they were in. Dean followed and he looked up the stairs, taking a few steps up warily. The door had blown open but the exit was blocked by a mass of fallen brick wall.  
“Looks like she brought the house down on top of us. We’re not getting out this way anytime soon.”  
Sam looked around. The basement was fairly bare, with a sink unit and shelving with odd bits and pieces.   
“There’s a small window which we could get through.” he said but as he walked nearer he saw that it was secured with several iron bars deeply embedded in the surrounding brickwork. Testing the bars, he soon surmised that they would not budge with muscle power alone.  
Dean came back down the stairs and walked over to Sam, stepping gingerly over various items of debris. Several jars had fallen down and smashed causing sharp shards of glass to litter the floor.  
“We’re trapped.” Sam sighed, stating the obvious.  
Dean reached into his pocket.   
“Let’s hope I’ve got a signal.” He activated his mobile phone and pressed the code for Castiel.  
“Come on Cas.” he murmured as the phone rang.  
It took a few rings until the call connected.  
“Hello Dean.” came the warm tones of the Angel.  
“Hi Cas. Sorry but we are in a bit of a predicament and need your help.”  
“What is it Dean? Are you or Sam hurt?”  
“No, we’re fine but we’re trapped and need someone to dig us out.”  
He explained what had happened and how without help they would not be able to get out of the basement. Castiel assured them that he and Jack would leave immediately.  
“Ok buddy. I’ll text you the address. Get here safely, don’t take any unnecessary risks, we’re safe enough here for the time being. I’ll turn off the mobile to preserve the battery.”  
“I will contact you when we are near. Looking at the map, I consider that we should reach you in about 7 hours.”  
“Ok, thanks Cas.”  
Putting the phone away in his pocket after turning it off he looked at his brother.  
“7 hours.” he said simply.  
Sam looked at his watch. It was 9.20pm so they were looking at spending an uncomfortable night in the basement. He shivered. The room was damp and a chill was already soaking into him.   
Dean looked around. “See if you can find anything to make our stay more comfortable.”  
Both brothers searched the room but didn’t find anything apart from some cardboard boxes with old pots and pans.  
Dean sighed. “Well it looks like a cold night on the tiles for us.” he said resignedly “You still got your torch?”  
Sam nodded and pulled it out of his pocket. The daylight coming from the small window was fading rapidly.  
“Ok, we’ll use yours for now and leave mine in case your battery runs dry. We can break down and use a couple of these cardboard boxes to sleep on. It may help a little.” Dean looked around again but there really wasn’t else he could suggest.  
“We’ll just pretend we’re on a camp out Sammy” he grinned, trying to bolster his brother's spirits.  
Sam sighed. “More like pretending we’re homeless hobos.” he said. “I guess we’re lucky we don’t have to do this every night like some poor schmucks.”  
Dean nodded. “Let’s just make the best of it. Cas and Jack will be here as quick as they can.”  
Sam stretched a kink out of his back and sighed. “I miss the days of old Cas. He would have flown in here and zapped us home in the blink of an eye.”  
“Things are different nowadays. He can’t waste his grace now and at least this way Jack will be with him. I don’t think it’ll be easy digging us out from here.”  
“I don’t suppose you’ve got anything to eat?” Sam asked, tucking his dark hair away from his face.  
“Sorry.”  
He sighed again. “Ok, so we’re in for a cold, uncomfortable and hungry night. Just great.”  
Dean grinned. “But you’ve got me for company.” he said, bumping his shoulder into his brother  
“As I said, great.” huffed Sam.

They lay together on the cardboard but it didn’t keep the chill coming off the damp floor. Both brothers huddled together for warmth, chatting for the first hour but eventually lapsing into silence as they endured the night. The temperature fell as the sun went down and soon both hunters were shivering. They tried to sleep but they were just too cold and uncomfortable. Sam somehow ended up pressing into his brother's chest with Dean's arm protectively around him and he felt safe and it reminded him of when he was a child.  
Around midnight he felt a twinge and moved to sit up.   
“Hey what’s up Sammy?” asked Dean as he felt his brother unwrap himself from him. He had been enjoying the closeness, reminding him of their younger days.  
“I need to pee” came the answer.  
“Oh ok. Use the sink. Here’s the torch.”  
Sam stood up and switched on the torch and swept it in the direction of the sink. Moving forward he carefully stepped over the debris and swiftly relieved his bladder, aiming for the stream to go directly down the drain. Finishing, he wiped his hands on his jeans and picked up the torch again to return to Dean's side. The sound of a drip of water made him turn and he swung the beam of light around.  
“What’s up Sam?” asked Dean, seeing the light being swung around.  
“There’s water dripping from above. I think there must be a broken water pipe from the kitchen. It’s coming through the floorboards.”  
“Ok, as long as we’re not near it, we’ll be alright.”  
Sam turned and began to make his way back to his brother. Suddenly there was a loud creak and the sodden floorboards collapsed, causing a flood of ice cold water to gush into the basement. Sam wasn’t directly under it but the collapse made him fall forward into the resulting shower of water.  
“Shit.” he cursed as he felt a sharp pain in his arm.  
“Sammy.” he heard his name called urgently and felt himself being lifted. “Are you ok man?”  
Sam shook his dark, soaking wet hair out of his eyes.  
“Now I’m really pissed. I’m cold, hungry, soaking wet and I’ve hurt my arm.” he spat in frustration.  
Dean looked down and picked up the torch. Luckily it was still burning. Taking charge, he moved his brother away from the pool of water, positioning him on the cardboard sitting up with his back against the wall.  
“Ok, what’s going on with your arm?”  
Sam grimaced. “Think I cut it on some broken glass. It stings like hell.”  
Dean lifted the damaged arm and studied it closely. A jagged piece of glass was embedded in Sams forearm. Gently he removed it, ignoring Sams pained gasp. Although it wasn’t deep the wound was bleeding freely.   
“Ok. I can’t do anything except wrap it up for now.”  
He shrugged off his jacket and overshirt and removed his t-shirt underneath. After putting his shirt and jacket back on he began to rip the t-shirt into strips and made a makeshift field dressing.  
“That should hold out till Cas and Jack get here.” he said quietly and Sam nodded knowing they didn’t have much choice.   
Dean patted his brother on the shoulder and picked up the torch to examine the damage to the basement ceiling. A 1 foot hole had appeared but everything appeared to be reasonably secure. What worried him was that there was a steady stream of water now pouring over the edge, causing a small waterfall to flood their prison.   
He moved to the dry side of the basement and pulled the phone from his pocket. He quickly dialled and was pleased to hear it picked up immediately.  
“Hey Cas.” he said and wasn’t surprised to hear Jack answer.  
“Hey Dean. How are you doing?”  
“I know I said take your time but there's been a couple of complications.”  
“Oh?”  
“There was a broken pipe above the basement. The weight of the water made the ceiling collapse and the water is flooding into the room. I don’t think I need to explain that we’re trapped with nowhere for the water to go.”  
Jack gasped as he understood the threat. If they didn’t get to the Winchester brothers soon then they would drown in the rapidly filling cellar.  
“We’ll be there as quickly as we can.” he said, turning to look at Castiel who was following the conversation in concern.  
“Sam was hurt in the collapse. Some glass has sliced his arm. It’s bleeding but I’ve wrapped it up. Hopefully it’s not too bad but I’ll need to stitch him up when we get out.”  
“We are around 3 hours away Dean. I will try to hurry as much as I can.” called Castiel, jamming his foot down on the accelerator pedal.  
“Thanks Cas. Call me when you get here.”  
He disconnected the call and returned to his brother.  
“Come on Sam, this water will flood the floor in no time. We need to go and sit on the stairs.”  
Sam nodded. He understood the peril of their situation as much as his brother. He groaned as he stood up and moved up a few steps. He was cold, hungry, wet, uncomfortable and in pain but he couldn’t see the point in complaining. There was only Dean to hear him and he was enduring much of the same discomfort. Resignedly he settled back on the stairs, feeling Dean move in and put a protective arm around his waist as they waited for their help to arrive.

The water rose steadily over the next few hours and the brothers had moved a few more steps up. Dean swept the torch around every so often but was assured that they wouldn’t drown if Cas and Jack arrived at the predicted time. He felt Sam shivering against him and he glanced down to check the blood soaked dressing on his arm. Luckily it looked like the wound had clotted, having soaked up a lot of blood in the temporary bandage but he knew that as soon as they removed it, it would tear open the wound again. Hopefully by then he would be able to clean and stitch it easily. Sam’s long hair was plastered to his pale face and Dean tightened his grip on his waist. Feeling the movement Sam looked up and smiled as he saw Dean appraising him.  
“I’m doing ok Dean.” he said. “Just can’t wait to get somewhere warm and dry.”  
Dean took a second to assess him and then nodded grimly.  
“Won’t be long now Sammy.”

The night was slowly turning to dawn as the clock reached 4am. There were little sounds of shifting debris as small items floated in the water. Above them, the house still settled. The patter of falling water was always in the background.  
Dean jumped as his phone rang and he picked it up quickly.  
“Hey Cas. You here?”  
“Yes Dean. We have just arrived. How are you doing?”  
“Not good. We’re surrounded by water stuck on the steps.”  
“How is Sam?”  
“I’m doing ok Cas.” called Sam.  
“What is it looking like outside Cas, can you get us out?”  
Castiel looked at the demolished house in front of him.  
“I’m afraid it will take us a long time to get you out from above. The whole house has collapsed.”  
“There's a small window to the basement but it’s got iron bars blocking it. Can you find something to cut the bars?”  
Cas and Jack walked around the building till they spotted the small window. Leaning down they examined it. Cas bent down and tested the strength of the bars.  
“It will take quite a while to cut through them.” he said.  
“What about pulling them out with the car?” suggested Jack, leaning down. “We can get a rope and hook it up to the car and pull.”  
“Good idea Jack.” shouted Dean who could hear them through the window. “There’s some heavy duty rope in the Impala.”  
“Hey, how about getting some gunpowder and trying to weaken the beddings of the bars first. It’ll make them come out easier.” called Sam.  
Dean nodded at Sams suggestion. “Ok, Cas, Jack, there’s some gunpowder in the black box near the machine gun. Pour a little around the base of each bar and throw a match on it. It won’t be a big explosion but it should be enough to weaken the structure.”  
“Ok, we’re on it.” called Jack and the angel and nephilim moved away.  
Dean looked back at Sam with a grin.  
“That’s what I call teamwork.”  
Sam nodded wearily and closed his eyes, relieved that their ordeal was hopefully soon going to be over. He shivered again, the coldness reaching down to the marrow of his bones. Blood loss, hunger, dehydration and cold had worn him down and he knew he was reaching the limit of his endurance.  
5 minutes later, as the water was lapping over the top of the third step, there was a call from Cas. “We’re set up. Protect your eyes and ears.”  
Dean tucked Sam into his shoulder and brought his hands up to his ears.  
“Ok.” he called.   
The explosion was louder than they expected and a shower of brick shards flew towards them. Tucking himself down, no damage was done. Looking back up he saw a puff of smoke dissipating outside.  
“How did it work?” he called.  
Jack bent down and studied it, pleased to see the brickwork beddings had been loosened.  
“I think it worked. We’ll get the rope fitted and see how we get on.”  
Jack wrapped the rope around the bars carefully and then walked back to the car. Cas attached it to the tow rope ring, making sure it was secure.   
“Ok. Stand back Jack.” he warned.  
Jack stood at a safe distance as Castiel gunned the car forward. The rope pulled taut and for a moment the bars resisted but with a bang, they came away and the rope slackened.  
Jack whooped as Cas brought the vehicle to a stop and followed Jack to the now gaping gap.  
Dean was at the other side, punching out the remaining parts of the shattered frame.  
“I love it when a plan comes together” he shouted.  
Turning, he waded back and helped Sam up, worried when the tall man waivered.  
“Come on Sammy, time to get you fixed up.”  
Sam tiredly rose with Dean's help and they waded through thigh deep water to the hole in the wall. With Cas and Jack pulling and Dean pushing him up he managed to squeeze through and rolled gratefully into the fresh air. Jack helped Dean through behind him and both hunters sat back, taking a moment to enjoy their liberation. Both brothers looked at each other with a grin. “That’s something to tell the grandchildren Sammy.” Dean said.  
Sam smiled and promptly passed out.  
“Sam!” called Dean and jumped as he felt a warm blanket come around his shoulders.  
Castiel knelt down to Sam as Jack held another blanket for the younger Winchester.  
The angel placed his hand on the dark head and closed his eyes.  
“He is very cold and the blood loss has exhausted him.” he said. “As are you Dean. Let’s get you to a safe and warm place. The Impala will be safe until we can pick it up later.”  
“Thanks guys.” the older hunter said sincerely and allowed himself to be guided to the back seat of Cas’s car, Sam laid beside him. He pulled the blanket around his brother's shoulders and snuggled into him.

It only took a few minutes to get them to the local motel that they had booked. Sam had woken when they moved to get him out of the car and was able to walk, with Castiels help, into the room. They looked after Sam first, bathing him in a warm bath and soaking the blood stained t-shirt dressing away from his arm. Dean went to get the medical kit ready but found his hands were shaking with cold and fatigue.  
Castiel took the kit off him.  
“Get in the shower and warm up Dean. Jack and I will look after Sam.”  
Dean began to resist but soon realised that he didn’t have a choice. He wouldn’t be able to stitch properly with shaking hands. He knew he could trust Sams care to the Angel and his son so he reluctantly moved off and went to thaw himself out under the hot shower. When he came out he saw that Sam was sleeping, his arm neatly stitched and bandaged. He noticed a half empty cup of soup on the bedside table and was reassured that Sam was at last warm and comfortable. A warm cup of soup was waiting for him and he picked it up, only now realising how hungry he was.  
“Rest now Dean. We will watch over you.” murmured Castiel and he settled down next to Sam and let the weariness wash over him.  
“Thanks for getting us out guys.” he said sleepily and closed his eyes.  
“You’re welcome” Castiel said quietly, pushing his hand out and stroking the side of Dean's head.  
“You can always rely on us to get you out of a bit of a predicament.”


End file.
